Business Development & Marketing Management

Welcome to the fourth installment in our multi-part “Collective Wisdom” series of content marketing strategy articles.

In this episode, we’ll take a look at the value of specific strategy practices that are sometimes overlooked or underutilized when it comes to creating strong content, featuring insight and examples from some of the world’s best digital marketers.

Now let’s explore a selection of commonly overlooked methods and tactics used by some of the best in the business for creating engaging and powerful content.

#1 – Staying Fresh While Thinking Long-Term

It’s no secret that content marketers feel pressure to continuously produce more and more content. But in the race to create, the question is: Can your content feature enough time-tested elements that it will still be useful and relevant in a year or two, or even a decade from now? What about 10,000 years from now?

Marketers should never overlook the value in thinking for the long-term and writing material that can offer lasting value. Nor should they overlook the opportunity to continually refine and refresh that evergreen content.

Even pop culture icon Grace Jones recognizes the benefits of smartly planning for the long run.

While there’s no way to guarantee that all of your content will still be best-practice-worthy 10 years down the line, if you’re crafting content with longevity in mind, you’ll have a head-start in extending its useful content shelf-life.

Josh Nite, Senior Content Marketing Manager at TopRank Marketing, has written extensively about evergreen content and how to foster and promote it.

You’ll also make it easier to write new future versions that can re-purpose some of that evergreen content you thought to include, altering only the portions that have had significant changes, part of the re-use techniques our CEO Lee Odden has explored.

If you’re in tune with your creative side and not afraid to try something new, you’ve got your own unique talents and insights that can help you create content in ways that nobody else can.

Following helpful advice from others while still creating your own unique methods of content creation aren’t mutually-exclusive, however, as some of the best material comes when someone puts their own new twists on the smart techniques already in use, to bring forth something wonderful and new.

#3 – Being a Life-Long Student of Your Customers & Their Journey

Every marketer realizes that knowing and understanding your audience are both key to success. But the question is, are you consistently researching and refreshing your audience intelligence?

By devoting time to regular audience and customer research, you’ll keep a pulse on the changing customer journey. And what you find can even turn into a new best-answer solution for whatever content area you’re working in.

Open Your Eyes to Better Content Creation

By staying fresh while thinking long-term, experimenting with new techniques, and identifying needs through research, you’ll be using often-overlooked tactics to stay a step ahead of the competition and ensure that you’ve got your bases covered for powerful content messaging.

Now that you’ve planned and crafted your content, next up in our “Collective Wisdom” series we’ll move on to the art of content promotion. Stay tuned!